September 16, 2010
Alaska Railroad Denali Park - Fairbanks 400p – 800p

Park concession employees enjoy free space available transportation aboard Holland America’s bi-level touring cars that operate between Anchorage and Fairbanks in conjunction with the Alaska Railroad’s once daily Denali Star service during the summer months. Never one to pass up a free ride, I made arrangements to travel the lightly booked service to Fairbanks on Thursday the 16th.

Autumn colors in the surrounding mountains provided an attractive backdrop as we awaited the arrival of the northbound train from Anchorage. The sound of the whistle could be clearly heard as the train approached the 120’ high bridge over Riley Creek. Soon the engines came into view and moments later the entire train followed as it glided past into the depot.



Alaska Railroad “Denali Star” arrives at Denali Park Station



Passengers board at Denali Park Station



Holland America Ultra Dome “Kobuk” awaits

When I first rode this train back in 1976, it was known as The Aurora and consisted entirely of 1950s era single level passenger cars including two ex-Union Pacific dome cars off the old City of Los Angeles. The entire train was painted blue and gold and made a pretty sight as it rolled through the Alaskan wilderness.



The Aurora heading south over the Riley Creek bridge. Photo taken in 1984

Today’s train owes its length and color to the cruise ship tour operators that have been bringing visitors to Alaska since the 1970s. Back then, cruise passengers typically ventured up the inside passage to Skagway in southern Alaska, then boarded a bus for a grueling five to eight day bus ride into and around central Alaska.

In the mid-1980s, a company called Alaska Cruise Tours renovated four former Milwaukee Road full length dome cars and began booking passengers on cruise and land tours. The idea was to extend the cruise experience inland, to essentially make the cars cruise ships on rails. Travel between Fairbanks, Denali Park and Anchorage was aboard these luxurious new dome cars and was extremely popular with passengers. Indeed, the concept was so successful that in 1986 Alaska Cruise Tours was purchased by Princess Cruise Lines.



One of the original 1950s era full length dome cars wearing Holland America livery but now working the Royal Gorge Route in Colorado

Two years later Princess Tours placed an order for eight brand new luxury railcars. The company producing those cars was called Rader Railcar, owned by Tom Rader, the original owner of Alaska Cruise Tours. The new cars, called Ultra Domes, offered comfortable upper level seating under full length glass domes that provided far more viewing area than the original 1950s era dome cars. To avoid the greenhouse effect so problematic in the earlier domes, the new domes featured triple laminated glass and five layers of tinting to reduce solar heating by an impressive 60 percent. Add to that a modern air conditioning system, a lower level kitchen and dining area as well as an outdoor observation platform and you had one of the largest and finest cars ever built for rail touring.



Holland America Ultra Dome interior seating

Since that first order by Princess in 1988, Ultra Domes have also been purchased by Holland America and Celebrity Cruise Lines for their Alaska tours, as well as the Alaska Railroad for its daily summer service. The result is a train that consists of a colorful collection of cars from the Alaska Railroad, Holland America, Celebrity Cruise Lines and Princess Tours.

Travel time to Fairbanks is four hours, arriving at 8:15pm. Because I was meeting for dinner afterwards with the friends who’d driven my truck up to Fairbanks, I did not take advantage of the high priced menu in the dining room. The scenery however was quite pretty and since there is no lounge car and most of my time was spent enjoying the view, I’ll let my pictures tell rest the story.



Rolling through the Nenana River canyon north of Denali Park



Autumn colors 30 miles out from Fairbanks


September 18, 2010
Alaska Marine Highway
M.V. Fairweather Skagway – Juneau 1200n – 330p
M.V. Matanuska Juneau – Ketchikan 500p – 745a +2

I once won a free cruise just for checking out a time share property in Steamboat Springs, CO. The cruise itself was hardly extravagant - just a short two night roundtrip between Miami and Nassau. It was a real ship though, 660’ long with five or six levels. My “room” was a converted broom closet located deep down in the bowels of the boat, directly beneath the dance floor. Loud disco music pulsated until the wee hours of the morning and my requests to put on some Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers went unheeded. Still, there was lots to eat and I won the ping pong tournament. I had a good time.

Although most visitors traveling to Alaska by sea do so aboard a cruise ship, we locals much prefer to “drive” the Alaska Marine Highway. The name can be a bit confusing to some since there are no roads to or between the communities of Southeastern Alaska. Once known as the Alaska Ferry System, the name was changed to the Alaska Marine Highway shortly after Alaska gained its statehood in 1959. One story has it that the new State of Alaska had requested federal funding for the Alaska Ferry System fleet but their request was denied by the Federal government on the basis that only highway systems are eligible for Federal transportation funds. The State of Alaska then renamed the Alaska Ferry System to the Alaska Marine Highway and lo and behold, the federal funds began to flow. Funny how government works sometimes, isn’t it?

To this day, the communities throughout Alaska’s southeastern panhandle remain accessible only by air and sea, so the ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway continue to play a vital role in the transport of people, freight and vehicles. There are currently eleven ferries in the fleet, some of them fairly small. The route system stretches as far south as Bellingham, Washington and as far west as Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands.

Given a choice, I’d actually prefer a chaise lounge on the ferry as opposed to a room aboard a cruise ship. I realize that in terms of comfort and amenities the cruise ships are much nicer in every way but life on board one just doesn’t feel as comfortable to me. Stepping aboard an Alaska Marine Highway ferry is like stepping into an old pair of jeans. Immediately comfortable. It’s not just the trappings, though. My fellow passengers are equally part of what makes the ferry trip so nice. The kind of folks who ride the ferry and have no qualms with sleeping out under the solarium are often a bit different in their approach to life and travel than the majority of those who require the creature comforts of the cruise ships. I’m not saying we’re better or worse from one another, just different. So what the hell is a guy like me doing in International First Class? I just like to fly, though to be sure I’m generally the only passenger who’s either sleeping in a cheap hotel or on the airport floor after the flight.

Southeast Alaska is one of the prettiest places on the planet. This is particularly true on a bright sunny day. Our departure out of Skagway was at 12:00n under clear blue skies with 60° weather. Life could hardly be finer. Our conveyance down to Juneau was aboard the M.V. Fairweather, the first of two new “Fast Ferry” class boats that entered service with the Alaska Marine Highway in 2004. How fast is the Fairweather? Whereas the larger ferries such as the Matanuska and Taku have a top service speed of 16 knots, the Fairweather’s four diesel engines and four water jets propel it along at an expeditious 32 knots. Travel times are effectively cut in half. On a day as nice as today however, I would have much preferred a slower boat. Still, the midday departure of the Fairweather allowed for a leisurely morning with a late breakfast in Skagway before heading out to the ferry terminal for boarding.

The journey down the Lynn Canal between Skagway and Juneau is unquestionably the prettiest part of the Inside Passage. For most of its sixty-mile length, the canal is only about three miles wide and is flanked by high, steep mountains on each side. Numerous small islands dot the surface and towards the north end, hanging glaciers drop from the rugged mountains above. In the continued interests of brevity, I’ll let pictures describe the rest of the journey.



Heading south out of Skagway



Lynn Canal Lighthouse



A nice afternoon on the solarium deck


Hacky Sack Silhouette